Introduction: pharmacology 1
Watch Dan (physiology and pharmacology educator for this course) provide a brief summary of how the body works.
Hi. My name is Dan Malone. And I’ll be taking you through the pharmacology part of this course. Pharmacology is the science of how medicines work in the body. The information in this introductory video is a very broad summary of how the body works, so this might be useful if you don’t have a background in science.
The human body is a complex collection of systems that all work together. There’s the skeletal system which supports the body and allows movement. The digestive system converts food into energy and eliminates waste. The circulatory system, the superhighway of the body, transports materials around the body. The nervous system coordinates bodily functions by releasing electrical signals and substances called neurotransmitters.
Each of these systems has a number of organs. For example, the digestive system consists of the stomach, the intestines, the liver, and the pancreas.
Each of these over this consists billions of separate cells.
Generally, cells have many things in common, such as a cell membrane on the outside, organelles switch have varying functions such as producing or moving substances, and a nucleus which contains the DNA.
But cells also have some differences depending on the role that they play. For example, liver cells differ greatly from skin cells which deferred again from nerve and fat cells.
All the organs in the body can work together because the cells communicate with each other to regulate body functions. This intercellular communication is done by electrical signals and chemical messengers. Examples of chemical messengers include neurotransmitters that are released from neurons, or nerve cells, following an electrical signal and hormones that are released from one cell and travel in the blood to another cell to then have an effect.
So later, you will see how medicines affect these different systems, organs, and cells in the body.
Watch Dan (physiology and pharmacology educator for this course) provide a brief summary of how the body works.
Study tips
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